


and the night sky was lit up again

by sayomiya



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, starfes, yeah that, you kno that one chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 00:11:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16799824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sayomiya/pseuds/sayomiya
Summary: He never got to understand what's behind that smile of his.In a way, he supposes he never needs to.(Based on Tsumugi and Eichi's interaction during fine's StarFes event!)





	and the night sky was lit up again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eviruu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eviruu/gifts).



> hello~! this is a gift for evi ohho
> 
> it isn't very long but! eimugi, the emotionally constipated grinches

It’s been a while since they’ve been like this together.

The snowflakes blend in with the white carpet that blankets the ground already, and the cold air is still around them. It hangs the way a picture would, or perhaps the way curtains frame windows—it draws an invisible sort of presence around the two of them.

“Surprising, isn’t it?” 

The boy beside him lets out a small laugh, drawing a circle in the snow as he faces him. “But that’s just how young kids are, so I want to let Natsume-kun and Sora-kun be free to do what they want.”

Eichi smiles.

Tsumugi’s always been like this. He’s always been thinking about others, about everyone except himself.

In some ways, the familiarity brings a warm hue to his heart, and he’s reminded of the old days, where Tsumugi would ramble on and on about the most pointless things and he would listen with a smile.

In other ways, it’s just the tiniest bit lonely, and some sort of nostalgic longing pinches at his heart as he watches the other third-year talks on and on about his new unit.

_His new unit._ It still feels strange thinking about it.

He supposes it’ll always feel strange.

“I see,” Eichi tries to say, and a lingering silence fills the air afterwards, accompanied by a sort of awkward tension between them.

He rushes to amend his statement. “…sorry, just forget it. I don’t have any right to tell you what to do in the first place.”

Tsumugi’s smiling just like he always has, but it’s different now—Eichi can’t tell what’s behind that smile of his any longer. “You’re really exhausted, aren’t you, Eichi-kun? I feel like…sometimes you start saying negative or gloomy things so the guys around you will comfort you and tell you it’s okay.”

Eichi laughs; brushes it off despite the stinging in his chest. The conversation seems as delicate as the snowflakes that dissolve once they fall to the ground, but yet they chatter on about increasingly trivial things.

Then, he straightens up, realising he hasn’t spoken a while, and that Tsumugi is staring at him.

He just chuckles again to break the silence—repetition is good, repetition is safe. “You’re plain and boring by default, but sometimes you say just the right thing… that’s why I liked you, Tsumugi.”

Somehow, the ice they’ve been standing on seems to crack just then, like those were the words that had triggered it—and he can feel himself falling down, down, _down,_ further into icy-cold water that seems to have no end.

Tsumugi’s voice is strained; quiet. The night sky no longer looks as pretty; the snowy landscape now appears dull.

“Aww,” the boy sighs, but there's a steeliness in his tone that sends Eichi reeling. “Liked…as in past tense?”

The words _of course not_ catch at the tip of his tongue, but by then, he’s lost his chance to explain himself. Tsumugi’s speaking again, like a train that doesn’t know how to stop.

“…It looks like your ride’s here.” Tsumugi’s still smiling, and yet again, he still can’t decipher what he’s feeling. “I’ll be on my way, then.”

The words are said with an air of finality.

He thanks Tsumugi’s disappearing back with a bitter taste on his tongue, and the temperature seems to fall again.

—

He doesn’t expect to see a mop of blue hair when he steps out from backstage, and his breath catches in his throat for a few moments.

“Eichi-kun.” Tsumugi greets him. “Good to see you.”

He nods, unsure of what to say, but forces himself to speak anyways. “…hello, Tsumugi. What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” It’s that smile again, that strange smile that he can never get around; that expression that tells him everything and nothing at all. “I came to see you after watching _fine’s_ performance in the Starlight Festival. You did well.”

The mood dissipates a little, and the corners of his lips tug upwards. “Another exaggeration, or are you telling the truth this time?”

A laugh. Tsumugi cocks his head, and for a moment, Eichi wonders how he ever had the courage to let that laugh slip out of his hands.

“You wouldn’t fall for the same joke twice, Eichi-kun.” His voice is kind, so kind that he doesn’t deserve it. “I really did find your performance beautiful.”

“Thank you,” he says. “Switch…Switch performed well too.”

More silence lapses between them. His mind lazily drifts back to the cold, starless night between the two of them, when the last bridge had been burnt, when he thought he’d lost Tsumugi and his incomprehensible smiles.

Tsumugi, who’s always been there for him no matter what.

He bites his lip; takes a step forward to prevent the boy from leaving. “Tsumugi. About that day…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—“

He’s cut off as the third-year just waves it off.

“I know,” Tsumugi says, and…that’s it, really.

_I know,_ in a way that resolves everything. In a way that can convey more than whatever long rambles Tsumugi would use to deliver.

“Don’t worry about it. I know you didn’t mean it.” Tsumugi smiles yet again. “Well, both of us did our best. Let’s keep doing our best next time, Eichi-kun.”

Eichi misses that smile, so much that it tugs at his heart, but it’s then that he remembered that—

—he didn’t need to miss it, not when that smile wouldn’t go away.

Even if bridges were burnt, they could be rebuilt one day. In the earth’s endless cycles of destruction and rebirth, this was just a tiny obstacle that they’d overcome in time.

“…Yes. I look forward to it, Tsumugi.”

Somehow, it seems as if the night sky is full of stars once again.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed!! you can find me on twitter @ikanyaide!!


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